Max Verstappen receives surprise team-mate in dream line-up prediction

Former Haas F1 team principal Guenther Steiner has revealed who he would pair alongside Max Verstappen in his dream driver line-up.

Verstappen is currently in his 10th campaign with Red Bull and has a contract with the team until the 2028 season.

The Dutchman has had six team-mates during his stint with the Milton Keynes-based squad and could be paired with a seventh name next year amid uncertainty over Yuki Tsunoda's future.

While Isack Hadjar is the name being linked with the drive alongside Verstappen next year, Steiner has picked Gabriel Bortoleto as Verstappen's team-mate in his own ideal line-up.

“I would take, for sure, Max Verstappen,” Steiner told LottoLand. 

“And I always said before I would take Oscar Piastri. But I think now I would take one of the rookies, Gabriel Bortoleto. I would take Max and Gabriel.”

Expanding on building his dream team, Steiner also looked to Mercedes and Aston Martin for inspiration.

“The company I like, or the team I like most for the infrastructure and how they are set up, is Mercedes. I quite like that set-up they have got.

“For the car designer I would take Adrian Newey. 

“He would need some people around him, but we could find them afterwards. I think that would be quite a successful team. And me as team principal, obviously!”

Steiner parted ways with Haas ahead of the 2024 campaign and has since dipped his toes into MotoGP, leading a consortium to take over the Red Bull KTM Tech3 team.

The Italian hinted he is not seeking a return to F1 in the near future.

“I am very happy not to run a team at the moment, because it is something I have done,” he added. 

“If the opportunity comes, if there is a project out there, I would be interested. But just to go to F1 to do a job as a team principal, I am not interested. 

“I would rather do what I do now, go to half the races.”